FROM EIR DAILY ALERT

White House Confirms Trump’s Washington Invitation to Putin

April 3, 2018 (EIRNS)—The White House has confirmed that President Donald Trump invited Russian President Vladimir Putin to visit the White House in the “not-too-distant future.” This follows a statement by the Kremlin to the same effect. White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told journalists April 2:

“As the President himself confirmed on March 20, hours after his last call with President Putin, the two had discussed a bilateral meeting in the ‘not-too-distant future’ at a number of potential venues, including the White House. We have nothing further to add at this time.”

In addition, the U.S. State Department stated that Russia would be able to replace the diplomats the U.S. expelled last week in response to the nerve agent attack in the U.K. Britain’s Guardian lamented that these developments “cast doubt on the effectiveness of what the U.S. presented last week as a strong gesture of solidarity with the British government.”

Furthermore the Kremlin, despite its reciprocal expulsions, will allow America to replace its expelled diplomats. Again the Guardian protests that the same arrangement has not applied to Britain, and may not apply to other countries that expelled Russian diplomats.

The British have very good reason to be upset. Trump will now be meeting within the near term with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, and Putin. If these meetings are held, they could change the course of history.

The Guardian further criticized Trump for not mentioning or tweeting anything about the spy case or the expulsions. For the British, this means Trump has yet to endorse the hostile policy towards Russia.

“The United States has expelled 48 Russian intelligence officers, but it is not requiring the Russian bilateral mission to reduce its total number of personnel,”

a State Department spokesman said.

“The Russian government remains free to request accreditation for vacant positions in its bilateral mission. Any requests for new diplomatic accreditation will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. The Russian Federation has not informed us that it intends to reduce the total number of personnel allowed in our bilateral mission. We therefore understand that the United States may request new diplomatic personnel to fill the positions of diplomats who have been expelled.”